


Compass Rose

by kurgaya



Series: Principle Winds [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Established Relationship, First Meetings, Kinda, Other, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 19:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6871066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The first this time - the first last time. It's only fitting, Luffy supposes, that the man who sailed for most of the world with him is the one who will do it again.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compass Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the fact that this is a post-canon, reincarnation, gender-flipped AU (ikr), I did honestly aim to keep them pretty IC. (Here's to hoping).
> 
> This is entirely self-indulgent. Entirely :)
> 
> Edit: holy shit this is my 100th work on this website (my god what is my life) ?? ?

 

Sometimes Luffy forgets that he's not made of rubber anymore. Okay, he will admit that he forgets _more_ than _sometimes_ \- and it results in calamities like misjudging how many wheels of cheese he can hold, or the distance to a plate of roast beef and potatoes and _dumplings_. He misjudges other things too, like the jump between rooftops and the dodge away from a fist, a knife, a rocketing bullet, but they've never been that important in comparison to food.

Being not-rubber (being skin, bone, breakable and rigid) is a challenge, but even in this life, Luffy enjoys the thrill of new and wondrous things. There are downsides and problems and far, far more bruises, but he learns to cope just as he learns about the world as it turned without him. It's strange to think that he has _come and gone_ , only to come again. Robin would have something insightful to say about it if she were here, and Brook would laugh his tinkering laugh and recite tales of his time _in-between_ , but Luffy is alone and that's the whole problem, really, more than this body made of -

Whatever it is that he's made of now.

Being alone is worse than death - and he's felt death now, so many times, in so many different ways, but he would still rather never be alone.

Luffy doesn't yet know what it is he's to _do_ in this life, but finding his nakama come first, and everything else can wait.

The world can wait.

(It will).

A gut-feeling is his only indication that his crew are out there, aware or unaware of their previous life, waiting or oblivious to how their captain searches the horizons for any clue to their presence. Luffy is _Luffy_ in this world, although he’s not _Monkey D._ , and while he does not look the same as he did, his hair is just as wild and his smile is just as free, and his eyes gaze out to the same golden future. He is Luffy in every way that matters, and he is certain that his crew will be the same.

(He'll love them regardless of any differences, just as he loved them the first time and will love them if there are any times to come).

When this new body of his hits seventeen (and it hits seventeen _hard_ , knees scraping gravel, fists punching red, swinging purple, fighting blue), he sets sail once again. This world is advanced, bold and bright and healing from wars that Luffy didn't live to see, but the seas are the same. There's a reason they've called him back and he'll find it one day, but as he waves a townspeople farewell and knows that he'll miss them - some of them - just as he missed Makino and Dadan before, Luffy can only think to smile at all the possibilities of this life.

He doesn’t have a hat to hold onto this time, for sentiment’s sake. It feels weird not to have straw beneath his fingertips and scratching into his hands.

He'll make _get a hat_ priority number two - after reuniting with his nakama, of course. Luffy doesn't know where he'll find them, but _anywhere_ is a good place to start - and it's _anywhere_ that leads him onwards and onwards until, eventually, to the first of his awaiting crew.

(They’ll all be waiting for him, even if they don't know it - even if they never come to know).

The first this time - the first last time. It's only fitting, Luffy supposes, that the man who sailed for most of the world with him is the one who will do it again. Luffy’s never been one to fuss over how he articulates things, and thus he's _missed_ Zoro more than he could ever hope to put into words; he's never really needed to _explain_ with Zoro - or to him, or about him, to anyone - and they never _titled_ what they had together, never felt the need.

They were _Luffy and Zoro_ and they will be again, Luffy hopes, even if Zoro’s not _quite_ as he remembers.

He finds his swordsman at a bar, as if Zoro really would be anywhere else. He’s _bartending_ , which is odd and completely unexpected; his swordless side is bizarre and his apron’s weirdly endearing, but the bartender is Zoro, there is no doubt. Admittedly, Luffy _had_ taken to hitting every bar in every city he docked at; they're a valuable source of information, as Nami had taught him (and Franky had warned him from). That his dear swordsman was also a full-time alcoholic is only a plus, although Luffy recognised that it was a long-shot and nothing to gamble on, but then neither was One Piece and he never let that dissuade him.

His stubbornness has paid off once again, so Luffy scooches onto a barstool that's a little too tall for him, and waits to order a drink that definitely isn't to his taste. He receives his first pint without so much as a second glance from his first mate, but that's okay, Luffy thinks, allowing himself the indulgence of slurping the bubbles and watching the bar bustle whirl around him; Zoro, in his element, one standing strong against a wave of rowdy, cursing men.

Luffy sloshes the drink over his hand as he laughs to himself. Inelegant in this life as he was in his former, he sticks his hand in his mouth to slurp the evidence away, and continues giggling to himself as the alcohol buzzes his brain.

Zoro… looks a little different, it's true. In fact, to one who didn't know him well, Zoro looks _nothing_ like he did, but Luffy knows better - knows his nakama better. Zoro is just as similar as he is dissimilar in this lifetime: he’s shorter now, much shorter than he was however long ago, but his shoulders are firm and his head held high, every twist and turn of his body as confident as he was, assured as he was, _proud_ as he was. It’s weird to see him nimble, lithe now, graceful in a slender sort of way: Zoro had always been a bit _clunky_ , an impenetrable defence of the Straw Hat crew (less like a wall and more like a _warship_ , but steadfast all the same), but he’s lost that burliness in this life, replacing brawn for something elegant, less muscular but just as refined.

The fact that he’s a _she_ now probably plays a pretty significant role in that, but who’s Luffy to assume?

“Hey lady,” he calls, waggling the empty pint glass in the air to attract her attention. She doesn’t so much as indicate that she's heard him, scarred hands throwing together someone’s demand of shots and cocktails and all manner of things, but Luffy just sticks his elbow to the bar and squishes a grin into his hand, amusing himself with the sway of the pint before his nose. She knows he’s there - he _knows_ that she knows; _aware_ of Luffy as Luffy is aware of her, her body watching him rather than her eyes - but Luffy doesn’t press, sure that she’ll come to him when she’s ready, sure as he was of Raftel, One Piece, and gold.

(Sure as he was all those years ago - _oh_ , so many, many years ago).

When the other customers are satisfied, the flurry of responsibility quelling to allow her curiosity in what must be this puerile man of silly, sunny smiles at the counter, she begins to pour him another pint. At Luffy’s giggling laughter she stops, raising her head of bouncing curls at the _clunk_ of his glass against the countertop. Appraising it with two - two! - eyes of Zoro’s charcoal grey, she heaves a sigh that isn’t quiet regret but isn’t really fondness either, and then finally looks up to consider Luffy in his entirety, shaggy black hair, hand-me-down clothes, toothy smile and all.

“Whaddya want, brat?” she asks, chugging down what she poured of his pint because they’ve both realised that of all the things he wants - the seemingly unattainable things - another pint isn’t one of them. Some of the froth slips down her chin and accentuates her frown in a bubbly trail, but two gulps later and the drink is gone. She scrubs a sleeve over her mouth and peers dissatisfied at the glass, and Luffy laughs because she’s _beautiful_ \- she’s beautiful and she could _clearly_ still drink any sane person under the table without so much as batting an eyelash.

She doesn’t blush, unashamed of the stains on her shirt and how she slams down the glass like she’s victorious, like she’s punch-drunk and divine. Luffy does, though, burning bright with his merriment at finding her - him, they, Zoro - again, and her eyebrows shoot up to the rose-gold hue of her hairline.

Luffy continues playing with his pint glass if only to stop himself from reaching out and twirling the pink-ish whirls of her hair. (A lifetime’s worth of _mosshead_ jokes has been enough, but it seems that even rebirth was reluctant to let the quirky colours lie).

“You wanna join my crew?” he asks, one of the hundred, the _million_ things he wants to say. ( _How are you_ , being the first; _are you happy_ , _do you remember me_ , and then, of course, yes or no, _will you sail with me again?_ ) She refrains from laughing in his face, but the long, hard look she shoots him does an ample job at disclosing her incredulity. Luffy feels his throat catch at the sight of it, casting his mind back to Shells Town and his first mate’s disbelieving stare.

“Pirates aren’t welcome around these parts, you know,” she says, gesturing vaguely with a dishcloth. The loutish patrons of the bar would definitely fall under ‘these parts’, but she motions beyond the pub, beyond the street and even the town. “Especially since that mess with the Pirate King.”

Luffy sets the pint glass down and she twitches towards it - or him, their interest equally piqued. “Gol D. Roger?” he prompts, and she laughs as if he’s said the stupidest thing in the world.

“Nah, the other one. The chimpanzee.”

“Monkey,” Luffy corrects, equally entertained and insulted on his past-self’s behalf, and the bartender huffs a laugh.

“No,” she says slowly - not unkindly, but gruffly like how Zoro always used to be, and smirking in a bizarrely Nami-like fashion. It’s _knowing_ , Luffy realises, _knowing something he doesn’t_ , and hope swells in his chest as the bartender née pirate argues, “I’d definitely say he was more of a chimp.”

“ _Eh_?” the captain replies, scarcely able to contain his excitement. He traps his feet between the bottom bar of the stool to stop them from swinging, but the bartender continues to smirk as though she can see his childish wiggling.

“You know a lot about the Pirate King?” Luffy asks.

She hums, seeming to consider her answer for a moment. That's _not_ a particularly Zoro mannerism; he always was blunt about things, straightforward and calm, and some of Luffy’s hope diminishes as the bartender flicks her rosy fringe.

“Oh, this and that,” she says unhelpfully, not giving an inch. It's almost as though she's teasing him - or _testing_ him, and Luffy tries not to frown; he's still not any good at puzzles, and Zoro is not a puzzle he ever imagined to encounter.

Best to be forward enough for the both of them then. “Whatcha think of him?” he asks, but another customer swaggering his way over and ordering a round interrupts their conversation. Luffy considers getting another drink himself in the lull, unsure as he is in the moment of quiet of _what_ exactly Zoro remembers of his life as the Pirate King’s right hand. He used to be able to read his first mate so well, but it's been a long, long time since they last saw each other, and this bartender has yet to give much of an indication of what she knows. Maybe she's content here, serving drinks and living in the background of everyone else's lives, but as the captain watches her squabble with a rather ambitious customer, her eyes are sharp as Zoro’s were and her tongue, it seems, even sharper, Luffy isn't sure about that either.

“Oi - err -” Zoro’s reincarnation calls, throwing the address over a shoulder. Luffy looks up just in time to catch her expression twist oddly as she stumbles over what to call him. “Brat. What did you say your name was again?”

Luffy grins despite himself. Maybe he shouldn't be viewing this as a puzzle; _challenges_ , after all, are much more his forte, and gaining Zoro’s trust (his loyalty and _affections_ ) had been the best of challenges.

“Depends who’s asking,” he informs her, wondering which one of them will cede first. “Whaddo they call you round here?”

She claims a bottle of jack from beneath the bar and clicks off the cap, and then takes a swig as though it has the words (the alcoholic content, really) to get her through this conversation.

“ _Bitch_ , mostly,” she admits, sounding as though she accepted this long ago. “Or _Elizabitch_ to the braggarts that come in here and get shit-faced every other week - ostentatious _pricks_.”

“You’re Elizabeth?” Luffy blurts, jaw clacking against the bar-top in his surprise.

_ Fuck off _ , replies the roll of her eyes, but when she opens her mouth to answer, her words are almost soft, unable to bring themselves to curse at this gleeful, curious young man.

Good _god_ , Luffy has missed his other half.

“Zee,” she corrects, breathing the name as though she's entrusting him with it. If the glowing tips of her ears are anything to go by (and unlike with her former green hair, the blush seems to lose itself in her beautiful pinkish-gold) she's surprised herself with this declaration too. She flusters in the way that only Zoro could, torn between mumbling a _thanks_ and kicking Luffy out the door, but her growing fondness seems to win out.

She shrugs, shoving a dishcloth to the bottom of a glass. “But call me whatever you want, I guess.”

“Whatever I want?” Luffy asks - except, is he really asking if he's _teasing_ , if this is a game that they’re both going to win? (Has he _really_ asked her anything, or has this just been banter before the inevitable, proprietary and _please_ and _thank yous_ when he should have stormed in here like he had before and said - 

_ You're going to join me! _ )

Elizabeth - Zee, Zoro, still - smiles, really smiles, and says around another gulp of whiskey, “Whatever - you - want.”

( _Don't decide that for yourself!_ )

Luffy beams brilliantly and bright. His first mate is watching him closely, instincts of a warrior waiting for his next move, and Luffy leans forward on the counter, not planning to disappoint.

“Hey, Zee,” he begins again, smiling a smile free from scars and war and hardship, but weighed down by it all the same. Zee mirrors him, mirrors her past-self, mirrors the pain of the life she lived without him, and Luffy knows her answer before he even asks the question:

“You wanna join my crew? I need my swordsman again.”

And Zee - laughs.

“For _you_ , Luffy,” she promises, tipping her whiskey towards him, laying down her life once again. “Anything.”

And then, as an afterthought that Luffy could never imagine her needing, she grumbles around the bottle rim, “But I will need some swords.”

“Some?” Luffy echoes, tilting his head, and Zee’s laughter is bold, loud enough that she shakes with it, Zoro’s rumbling tones erupting through.

“Yeah, why stop at three?” declares the ex-swordsman, the swordsman-to-be. Her happiness implores Luffy to hug her, kiss her, love her all over again - he wants nothing more - but he has waited long enough to wait a little bit longer, and he laughs along with her instead, throwing his head back at the _ludicrous_ idea.

(They do, after all, seem to have all the time in the world).

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment as you go~


End file.
